Last Summer
'Meticulously researched and beautifully told . . . a wonderfully satisfying read' – Santa Montefiore
The Sunday Times Bestselling Historical Fiction
Summer on St Kilda – a wild, remote Scottish island. In the 1930s, two strangers from drastically different worlds meet . . .
Wild-spirited Effie Gillies has lived all her life on the small island of St Kilda. But when Lord Sholto, heir to the Earl of Dumfries, visits, the attraction between them is instant. For one glorious week she guides the handsome young visitor around the isle, falling in love for the first time – until a storm hits and her world falls apart.
Three months later, St Kilda lays silent as the islanders are evacuated for a better life on the mainland. With her friends and family scattered, Effie is surprised to be offered a position working on the Earl’s estate. Sholto is back in her life but their differences now seem insurmountable, even as the simmering tension between them grows . . .
Then, when a shocking discovery is made back on St Kilda, all her dreams for this bright new life are threatened by the dark secrets Effie and her friends thought they had left behind.
Opposites attract in this epic and spellbinding novel, which transports us from the untamed beauty of St Kilda to the glamour and intrigues of high society in the 1930s.
The Last Summer is the first book in the Wild Isle series by Sunday Times bestseller Karen Swan, inspired by the true history of St Kilda and its small island community. It is followed by The Stolen Hours.
'The most exciting, enchanting and evocative story of forbidden love I’ve ever read. I truly loved it' – Cathy Bramley
'Powerful writing and a wonderful premise make this a novel you’ll simultaneously want to savour and race through. I loved it' – Jill Mansell
'A delicious romantic tale of wild 1930s Scotland . . . perfect for everyone dreaming of summer' – Rachel Hore
Karen Swan is the Sunday Times top three bestselling author and her novels sell all over the world. Her books are known for their evocative locations and Karen sees travel as vital research for each story. She loves to set deep, complicated love stories within twisting plots.
The Last Summer is the first book in her historical series called The Wild Isles, based on the dramatic evacuation of the Scottish island of St Kilda in the summer of 1930. It was partly inspired by Karen's Scottish roots: her father's family came from Skye, moving to Fort William where Karen was christened and where many of her family still live. Her childhood memories are full of Christmases, Hogmanays and summer holidays spent in the Highlands.